The short version
- B2B baseline: 12–15 booked meetings a month per outbound SDR, 40–50 dials a day, a 5–7% connect rate and roughly 80% show rate.
- Our government standard: one qualified meeting per BDR per working day, about 20 a month at full ramp, on 120–150 dials a day.
- Why the dials are higher: government contacts take more attempts to reach, but desk phones, switchboards and public directories mean a persistent caller does get through.
- What to measure instead of dials: held meetings, meeting-to-opportunity rate and pipeline created against the sales-cycle length for your segment.
The benchmarks
B2B figures come from the largest public SDR datasets. The government column is the standard Kensington Sales Group sets for its embedded BDRs on state, local, education and utility programs; individual programs vary with the offer, the list and the client's definition of a qualified meeting.
Showing all 9 metrics
| Metric | B2B benchmark | KSG standard for government | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meetings booked per monthOutbound SDR, fully ramped | 12–15 average; 18–25 top quartile | One qualified meeting per BDR per working day: about 20 a month at full ramp | Operatix via Prospeo (15); Bridge Group / 6sense (12–15); Abstrakt, 6.2M calls (19–24) |
| Meetings held (show rate)Booked meetings the prospect attends | 75–85% show rate, so ~12 held from 15 booked | Government show rates tend to be higher than commercial because meetings are set on work calendars during business hours; we confirm the day before and reschedule no-shows within the week. | Prospeo benchmark table |
| Dials per dayOutbound calls attempted | 40–50 median; 80+ top quartile | 120–150 dials a day, because government reaching requires many more attempts per contact and most calls go to desk lines and switchboards | Bridge Group 2025 (44 median); SalesHive (40–50) |
| Connect rateLive conversations as a share of dials | 5–7% average across large call datasets; 13% for top reps | Daytime desk-phone culture helps: switchboards, department lines and published directories mean a persistent caller reaches more people than a commercial SDR calling mobiles. | Gong, 300M calls (5.4%); Abstrakt (6–7%) |
| Quality conversations per dayReal discovery conversations, not hang-ups | 4–6 | 6–10 at the dial volumes above | Bridge Group (4.1–5.8) |
| Attempts per contactTouches before a prospect is reached or retired | 8–12 (Bridge Group); 21 (6sense) | Plan on 10 or more across phone, email and LinkedIn; public employees rarely answer the first call but rarely block the fifth | Prospeo, citing Bridge Group and 6sense |
| Meeting-to-opportunity rateHeld meetings that become a qualified pipeline stage | ~50% | Depends on qualification. We qualify on fit, authority and a funded or fundable need, and let the client define 'qualified' before the first call. | Prospeo benchmark table |
| Ramp timeMonths until a new rep hits full productivity | 3.0 months | Program launch in as little as one week; first meetings typically in the first month; full run-rate by month three | Bridge Group 2025 |
| Cost per booked meetingFully loaded | $640–$5,750 in-house depending on rep performance; $350–$600 outsourced | Priced per embedded BDR, not per meeting, so the cost per meeting falls as the rep ramps; ask us for the current rate card. | Prospeo unit-economics model |
The math behind one meeting a day
Here is how a government BDR gets to about 20 booked meetings a month, and where the funnel breaks if any one rate slips.
Showing all 5 steps
| Step | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Dials per monthAt 130 a day over 21 working days | ~2,700 | Government directories and switchboards make this volume reachable; commercial mobile-first calling does not. |
| ConversationsAt a 6% connect rate | ~160 | Roughly 8 a day; about half are real discovery conversations. |
| Meetings bookedAt a 12% conversation-to-meeting rate | ~20 | This is the one-a-day standard. The same funnel at a 5% set rate yields 8, which is why conversation quality matters more than dials. |
| Meetings heldAt an 85% show rate | ~17 | No-shows are rescheduled, not dropped. |
| Qualified opportunitiesAt a 50% meeting-to-opportunity rate | ~8–9 | With a 12-month SLED sales cycle, these close the following fiscal year. |
What is different about government outbound
- Reachability. Most public employees have a published desk line and an email in a predictable format, and departments are staffed during business hours. Commercial SDRs calling mobile numbers from purchased lists rarely enjoy that, which is why government call volumes can run two to three times the B2B median and still produce real conversations.
- Who answers. You will reach administrative staff and deputies before directors. Treating them as the route in rather than a gate changes the conversation rate.
- Qualification is about the budget cycle. A commercial 'qualified meeting' tests need, authority and timing. In government, timing is the fiscal year: a director with a real need and no line item is a next-year opportunity, and the meeting is still worth having if the budget calendar says the request window is open.
- Procurement sits between the meeting and the deal. Even a perfect meeting leads to a quote, a cooperative contract or an RFP, so meeting-to-close takes the 9–18 months in our sales-cycle benchmarks. Judge an SDR program on meetings and pipeline in the first two quarters, not closed revenue.
- Compliance and tone. Public employees are cautious about anything that reads as a gift or a sales pressure tactic. Scripts that ask permission, state the purpose plainly and offer a way to say no book more meetings than urgency plays. Our B2G SDR playbook covers the scripts.
In-house SDR versus an embedded BDR
The Bridge Group puts the median SDR at an $80,000 on-target earnings package with a three-month ramp and 1.9-year tenure; add data, dialer and management and a fully loaded in-house seat runs well over $100,000 a year before the first meeting. At the B2B median of 12–15 booked meetings a month, that is several hundred dollars per meeting from a strong rep and several thousand from a weak one. An embedded BDR from a firm that already sells to government starts with the lists, the scripts and the dial discipline, which is why we can be up and running in as little as one week and measure the program on held meetings from month one.
Method and sources
B2B benchmarks are from The Bridge Group's SDR Metrics reports (351 B2B companies, 2025 edition), Gong Labs' analysis of 300 million cold calls, Abstrakt Marketing Group's 2025 analysis of 6.2 million dials, Operatix and 6sense benchmark studies, as summarized and linked in the table. Government figures are Kensington Sales Group's operating standards for embedded BDRs selling into Federal, SLED, K-12 & Higher Ed, Healthcare, Tribal, Special Districts and Utilities buyers; they are targets we manage to, not a guarantee for any single program. Checked November 7, 2026. Corrections: sales@kensingtonsalesgroup.com.
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